But slow pacing gave the Internet and free speech advocates time to wake up and mobilize, turning what might have been a relatively simple exercise for Mr. Dodd and his allies into a bitter struggle. The delays violated a cardinal rule among professional lobbyists, who generally believe the worst enemy of a proposed law is the legislative clock.

Mr. Dodd said that the entire industry was surprised by the intensity of the objections that arose in the last couple of weeks. “This was a whole new different game all of a sudden,” he said. “This thing was considered by many to be a slam dunk.”

The article points out something interesting: Thanks to a 2007 law, Dodd is barred from directly lobbying members of Congress for two years because he’s a former Senator. He could lobby the White House, but that clearly didn’t work because Obama’s staff went against him. This makes us wonder what Chris could throw at Congress as MPAA head once the rule is lifted. Dodd also suggested tactical errors were at play: With Hollywood the face of this bill and not, say, heavily-counterfeited products, it made things much harder than it could’ve been. To which we say: Save your talk about smoke detectors, Chris. The internet was the issue dealt with in this bill — and poorly.